I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved communications system employing multi-carrier modulation and having high efficiency, improved performance, and enhanced flexibility.
II. Description of the Related Art
A modern day communications system is required to support a variety of applications. One such communications system is a code division multiple access (CDMA) system that conforms to the “TIA/EIA/IS-95 Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System,” hereinafter referred to as the IS-95 standard. The CDMA system supports voice and data communication between users over a terrestrial link. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled “SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS,” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM,” both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
An IS-95 compliant CDMA system is capable of supporting voice and data services over the forward and reverse communications links. Typically, each voice call or each traffic data transmission is assigned a dedicated channel having a variable but limited data rate. In accordance with the IS-95 standard, the traffic or voice data is partitioned into code channel frames that are 20 msec in duration with data rates as high as 14.4 Kbps. The frames are then transmitted over the assigned channel. A method for transmitting traffic data in code channel frames of fixed size is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,773, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
A number of significant differences exist between the characteristics and requirements of voice and data services. One such difference is the fact that voice services impose stringent and fixed delay requirements whereas data services can usually tolerate variable amounts of delay. The overall one-way delay of speech frames is typically required to be less than 100 msec. In contrast, the delay for data frames is typically a variable parameter that can be advantageously used to optimize the overall1 efficiency of the data communications system.
The higher tolerance to delay allows traffic data to be aggregated and transmitted in bursts, which can provide a higher level of efficiency and performance. For example, data frames may employ more efficient error correcting coding techniques requiring longer delays that cannot be tolerated by voice frames. In contrast, voice frames may be limited to the use of less efficient coding techniques having shorter delays.
Another significant difference between voice and data services is that the former typically requires a fixed and common grade of service (GOS) for all users, which is usually not required or implemented for the latter. For digital communications systems providing voice services, this typically translates into a fixed and equal transmission rate for all users and a maximum tolerable value for the error rate of speech frames. In contrast, for data services, the GOS may be different from user to user and is also typically a parameter that can be advantageously optimized to increase the overall efficiency of the system. The GOS of a data communications system is typically defined as the total delay incurred in the transfer of a particular amount of data.
Yet another significant difference between voice and data services is that the former require a reliable communications link that, in a CDMA system, is provided by soft handoff. Soft handoff results in redundant transmissions from two or more base stations to improve reliability. However, this additional reliability may not be required for data transmission because data frames received in error may be retransmitted. For data services, the transmit power needed to support soft handoff may be more efficiently used for transmitting additional data.
Because of the significant differences noted above, it is a challenge to design a communications system capable of efficiently supporting both voice and data services. The IS-95 CDMA system is designed to efficiently transmit voice data, and is also capable of transmitting traffic data. The design of the channel structure and the data frame format pursuant to IS-95 have been optimized for voice data. A communications system based on IS-95 that is enhanced for data services is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/963,386, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HIGH RATE PACKET DATA TRANSMISSION,” filed Nov. 3, 1997, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
Given the ever-growing demand for wireless voice and data communication, however a higher efficiency, higher performance wireless communications system capable of supporting voice and data services is desirable.